Nintendo Australia is sending word that it will be holding a beginner class this Thursday for DS owners in their region. The class will teach visitors about the basics of handling titles like Animal Crossing, and Nintendogs. Further details are available in the full article.

Australia based gamers will be glad to know that they're going to be getting some big name Square Enix titles such as Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII for the Sony PlayStation Portable and Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors for the Nintendo DS this year. To find out more, head on over to the full article.

Here's something that may get gamer's hopes up: according to a columnist, gaming industry representatives are allegedly trying to pressure the Australian government into implementing an equivalent of an R-18 rating for games. What's good about it? It means that Mature-rated games won't get banned in the land down under. Read more about it in the full article.

Anxiously waiting for LucasArts' Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, DS)? You'll be pleased to know that the game has already been dated and that Spike TV will be showing some exclusive segments on the game. Head on over to the full article for more information

Are you concerned with Take-Two's move to develop the sequel to BioShock in 2K Marin instead of Boston and Australia? Are you excited about a possible sequel to Max Payne next year? Is Take-Two locked down for EA's taking? All these were answered by the controversial publisher's top execs as they met up with investors. All the details after the jump.

Game Developers Magazine is starting a new trend, and it's to list out the Top 50 videogame developers of the year - just to give back to the groups that made our lives a bit more exciting through their realized (and digitized) works of art. Want to know if your favorite game developer made the list? Hit the full article to find out!

Quite a number of gamers were up in arms when Australia's Office of Film and Literature Classification board's refused to rate Digital Extremes' Dark Sector (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) for release. Well, if you're one of those who felt a bit disappointed, you might want to know that the Australian federal government has revealed that it is currently considering an R-rating for videogames.

The big winner for the the recent 8th Annual Game Developers Conference Choice Awards was Valve Corporation's Portal as it won the prestigious Game of the Year award as well as three other honors for its innovative and unique gameplay. You can read about the other awardees and special recipients from the event  in the full article after the jump.

At the conclusion of Game Connect: Asia Pacific, the Game Developer's Association of Australia awarded the best game developers from Australia and New Zealand.

As Medieval II took home the most awards last year, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (DS, PSP) swept up this year's awards with five awards, including Best Game.

There's a new The Legend of Zelda-themed DS mod up for grabs in Ebay, and its just in time for the recent US release of The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Do take note that the bidding is taking place in Australia, however, and that bets are placed in Australian dollars.

This DS mod sports a nice, cool white-and-blue color scheme, topped off with Link's sword and shield emblem. We couldn't help but feel that green or gold should have sufficed, but this blue motif is still nifty in its own right. Another cool feature is that green LEDs are placed underneath the shield, giving the shield a nice, ethereal glow everytime the DS is turned on. This nice effect just about puts this DS mod in the same category of coolness as the NES Controller and Koopa mods.

The highest bid as of this writing is AU$ 285 (about US$ 255). 15% of the bets will be donated to Penny Arcade's Child's Play charity, giving the winning bidder a feeling of doing something good in the world, along with the purchase.

Interested in bidding? Check out the Read link for more pictures and details on how to bid!